Students quarantined in China

Three Walter Johnson High School students were among a group of 22 from the Washington, D.C. area who were quarantined during a trip to China after some of the students began exhibiting signs of swine flu, trip and school officials confirmed Tuesday morning.

The students, traveling to Beijing as part of a language and culture immersion program with the University of Maryland's Confucius Institute, arrived in China on July 15.

"One student had a fever when they stepped off the plane, and was hospitalized," said Alan Cheung, executive director of the institute. "Then, a few days later, two or three more students began showing signs of swine flu and were all hospitalized."

All the hospitalized students were identified as having some strain of the H1N1, or swine flu, virus, Cheung said. Chinese government officials then quarantined the remaining students and two chaperones as a precaution, Cheung said.

Walter Johnson Principal Christopher Garran confirmed on Tuesday that three of the students were from his school. Cheung did not know what schools the remaining students attended, though he said they were all from Maryland or the District.

All the students are feeling well and are expected to be released by the end of the week, Cheung said.

"The students' health and welfare is our utmost concern," he said. "These were all preventive measures."

The Confucius Institute works in conjunction with Hanban, a non-governmental arm of the Chinese Language Council International, a group dedicated to educating global students about Chinese culture and language.

Cheung said Hanban has agreed to extend the trip at no charge to the students and will put all the students and chaperones up in a five-star hotel when they are released from the hospital.